Monday, May 23, 2011

Weizer reviews Collins, "The Fundamental Holmes"

Another recent post from the Law & Politics Book Review covers THE FUNDAMENTAL HOLMES: A FREE SPEECH CHRONICLE AND READER (Cambridge, 2010), by Ronald K. L. Collins (University of Washington School of Law).

Reviewer Paul I. Weizer (Fitchburg State University) describes the book as "a comprehensive and often compelling look at the life of Oliver Wendell Holmes" and predicts that it will attract interest from scholars specializing in speech issues. Here's a bit more:
It has been said that a man is the sum of his experiences. The main aim of this book is to explore the life of Holmes and the events which led to his free speech jurisprudence. This is done through a careful examination of the personal correspondence, public speeches and judicial opinions of Holmes. This book is billed as the first complete collection of works by Justice Holmes on matters related to free speech. However, it is more than just that. By providing letters and speeches, in addition to the traditional judicial opinions found elsewhere, Collins helps to provide a sense of the man and a view of the Justice.
The full review is here.

The TOC and an excerpt of the book (from Part I: On Life and War) are available here.